Prostitute

Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, oral sex, etc.) with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring diseases. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in this field is called a prostitute, or more inclusively, a sex worker.

Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms, and its legal status varies from country to country (sometimes from region to region within a given country), ranging from being an enforced or unenforced crime, to unregulated, to a regulated profession. It is one branch of the sex industry, along with pornography, stripping, and erotic dancing. Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to prostitution. In escort prostitution, the act may take place at the client's residence or hotel room (referred to as out-call), or at the escort's residence or a hotel room rented for the occasion by the escort (in-call). Another form is street prostitution.

There are about 42 million prostitutes in the world, living all over the world (though most of Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa lack data, studied countries in that large region rank as top sex tourism destinations). Estimates place the annual revenue generated by prostitution worldwide to be over $100 billion.

The majority of prostitutes are female and have male clients.

The position of prostitution and the law varies widely worldwide, reflecting differing opinions. Some view prostitution as a form of exploitation of or violence against women, and children, that helps to create a supply of victims for human trafficking. Some critics of prostitution as an institution are supporters of the " Nordic model" that decriminalizes the act of selling sex and makes the purchase of sex illegal. This approach has also been adopted by Canada, Iceland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Norway, France and Sweden. Others view sex work as a legitimate occupation, whereby a person trades or exchanges sexual acts for money. Amnesty International is one of the notable groups calling for the decriminalization of prostitution.Q&A: policy to protect the human rights of sex workers
Amnesty International. Retrieved 23 November 2017.

Etymology and terminology

General

''Prostitute'' is derived from the Latin ''prostituta''. Some sources cite the verb as a composition of "''pro''" meaning "up front" or "forward" and "''stituere''", defined as "to offer up for sale". Another explanation is that ''prostituta'' is a composition of ''pro'' and ''statuere'' (to cause to stand, to station, place erect). A literal translation therefore is: "to put up front for sale" or "to place forward". The '' Online Etymology Dictionary'' states, "The notion of 'sex for hire' is not inherent in the etymology, which rather suggests one 'exposed to lust' or sex 'indiscriminately offered.'"

The word ''prostitute'' was then carried down through various languages to the present-day Western society. Most sex worker activists groups reject the word ''prostitute'' and since the late 1970s have used the term ''sex worker'' instead. However, ''sex worker'' can also mean anyone who works within the sex industry or whose work is of a sexual nature and is not limited solely to prostitutes.

A variety of terms are used for those who engage in prostitution, some of which distinguish between different types of prostitution or imply a value judgment about them. Common alternatives for ''prostitute'' include '' escort'' and ''whore''; however, not all professional escorts are prostitutes.

The English word ''whore'' derives from the Old English word ''hōra'', from the Proto-Germanic ''*hōrōn'' (prostitute), which derives from the Proto-Indo-European root ''*keh₂-'' meaning "desire", a root which has also given us Latin ''cārus'' (dear), whence the French ''cher'' (dear, expensive) and the Latin ''cāritās'' (love, charity). Use of the word ''whore'' is widely considered pejorative, especially in its modern slang form of ''ho''. In Germany, however, most prostitutes' organizations deliberately use the word ''Hure'' (whore) since they feel that ''prostitute'' is a bureaucratic term. Those seeking to remove the social stigma associated with prostitution often promote terminology such as ''sex worker'', ''commercial sex worker'' (CSW) or ''sex trade worker''. Another commonly used word for a prostitute is ''hooker''. Although a popular etymology connects "hooker" with Joseph Hooker, a Union general in the American Civil War, the word more likely comes from the concentration of prostitutes around the shipyards and ferry terminal of the Corlear's Hook area of Manhattan in the 1820s, who came to be referred to as "hookers". A ''streetwalker'' solicits customers on the streets or in public places, while a ''call girl'' makes appointments by phone, or in recent years, through email or the internet.

Correctly or not, the use of the word ''prostitute'' without specifying a sex may commonly be assumed to be female; compound terms such as ''male prostitution'' or ''male escort'' are therefore often used to identify males. Those offering services to female customers are commonly known as ''gigolos''; those offering services to male customers are ''hustlers'' or ''rent boys''.

Procuring

Organizers of prostitution may be known colloquially as '' pimps'' if male or ''madams'' if female. More formally, one who is said to practice procuring is a ''procurer'', or ''procuress''. They may also be called ''panderers'' or ''brothel keepers''.

Examples of procuring include:

* deriving financial gain from the prostitution of another.
* operating a prostitution business;
* trafficking a person into a country for the purpose of soliciting sex;
* transporting a prostitute to the location of their arrangement;

Clients

Clients of prostitutes, most often men by prevalence, are sometimes known as ''johns'' or ''tricks'' in North America and ''punters'' in Britain and Ireland. These slang terms are used among both prostitutes and law enforcement for persons who solicit prostitutes. The term ''john'' may have originated from the frequent customer practice of giving one's name as "John", a common name in English-speaking countries, in an effort to maintain anonymity. In some places, men who drive around red-light districts for the purpose of soliciting prostitutes are also known as ''kerb crawlers''.

Female clients of prostitutes are sometimes referred to as ''janes'' or ''sugar mamas''. Honwana, Alcinda. "Changing Patterns of Intimacy among Young People in Africa." African Dynamics in a Multipolar World (2013): 29-47.

Other meanings

The word "prostitution" can also be used metaphorically to mean debasing oneself or working towards an unworthy cause or "selling out". In this sense, "prostituting oneself" or "whoring oneself" the services or acts performed are typically not sexual. For instance, in the book ''The Catcher in the Rye'', Holden Caulfield says of his brother ("D.B."): "Now he's out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me." D.B. is not literally a prostitute; Holden feels that his job writing B-movie screenplays are morally debasing.

The prostitution metaphor, "traditionally used to signify political inconstancy, unreliability, fickleness, a lack of firm values and integrity, and venality, has long been a staple of Russian political rhetoric.Riabova, Tatiana and Riabova, Oleg (2015) "Gayromaidan" in Fedor, Julie; Portnov, Andriy; and Umland, Andraes (eds.) ''Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society: Sociographic Essays on the Post-Soviet Infrastructure for Alternative Healing Practices, Volume 1, Issue 1'' Columbia University Press
p.105
Accessed: 14 March 2017 One of the famous insults of Leon Trotsky made by Vladimir Lenin was calling him a "political prostitute". Leon Trotsky used this epithet himself, calling German Social Democracy, at that time "corrupted by Kautskianism", a "political prostitution disguised by theories". In 1938, he used the same description for the Comintern, saying that the chief aim of the Bonapartist clique of Stalin during the preceding several years "has consisted in proving to the imperialist 'democracies' its wise conservatism and love for order. For the sake of the longed alliance with imperialist democracies talinhas brought the Comintern to the last stages of political prostitution."

Besides targeting political figures, the term is used in relation to organizations and even small countries, which "have no choice but to sell themselves", because their voice in world affairs is insignificant. In 2007, a Russian caricature depicted the Baltic states as three "ladies of the night", "vying for the attentions of Uncle Sam, since the Russian client has run out of money".

Usage of the "political prostitute" moniker is by no means unique to the Russian political lexicon, such as when a ''Huffington Post'' contributor expressed the opinion that Donald Trump was "prostituting himself to feed his ego and gain power" when he ran for President of the United States.

Sex work researcher and writer Gail Pheterson writes that these metaphorical usages exist because "the term "prostitute" gradually took on a Christian moralist tradition, as being synonymous with debasement of oneself or of others for the purpose of ill-gotten gains".

History

Ancient Near East

In the Ancient Near East along the Tigris–Euphrates river system there were many shrines and temples or "houses of heaven" dedicated to various deities documented by the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus in '' The Histories'' where sacred prostitution was a common practice. It came to an end when the emperor Constantine in the fourth century AD destroyed the goddess temples and replaced them with Christianity.

As early as the 18th century BC, ancient Mesopotamia recognized the need to protect women's property rights. In the Code of Hammurabi, provisions were found that addressed inheritance rights of women, including female prostitutes.

Ancient Greece

Both women and boys engaged in prostitution in ancient Greece. Female prostitutes could be independent and sometimes influential women. They were required to wear distinctive dresses and had to pay taxes. Some similarities have been found between the Greek ''hetaera'', the Japanese ''oiran'', and also the Indian ''tawaif''. Some prostitutes in ancient Greece, such as Lais were as famous for their company as their beauty, and some of these women charged extraordinary sums for their services.

Ancient Rome

Prostitution in ancient Rome was legal, public, and widespread. A registered prostitute was called a meretrix while the unregistered one fell under the broad category ''prostibulae''. There were some commonalities with the Greek system, and as the Empire grew, prostitutes were often foreign slaves, captured, purchased, or raised for that purpose, sometimes by large-scale "prostitute farmers" who took abandoned children. Indeed, abandoned children were almost always raised as prostitutes. Enslavement into prostitution was sometimes used as a legal punishment against criminal-free women. Buyers were allowed to inspect naked men and women for sale in private and there was no stigma attached to the purchase of males by a male aristocrat.

Asia

According to Shia Muslims, Muhammad sanctioned fixed-term marriage—''muta'a'' in Iraq and ''sigheh'' in Iran—which has instead been used as a legitimizing cover for sex workers, in a culture where prostitution is otherwise forbidden. Sunni Muslims, who make up the majority of Muslims worldwide, believe the practice of fixed-term marriage was abrogated and ultimately forbidden by either Muhammad, or one of his successors, Umar. Sunnis regard prostitution as sinful and forbidden. Some Western writers have argued that ''mut'ah'' approximates prostitution. and Nikah misyar Julie Parshall writes that ''mut'ah'' is legalised prostitution which has been sanctioned by the Twelver Shia authorities. She quotes the Oxford encyclopedia of modern Islamic world to differentiate between marriage (nikah) and ''mut'ah'', and states that while nikah is for procreation, ''mut'ah'' is just for sexual gratification. According to Zeyno Baran, this kind of temporary marriage provides Shi'ite men with a religiously sanctioned equivalent to prostitution. According to Elena Andreeva's observation published in 2007, Russian travellers to Iran consider ''mut'ah'' to be "legalized profligacy" which is indistinguishable from prostitution. Religious supporters of ''mut'ah'' argue that temporary marriage is different from prostitution for a couple of reasons, including the necessity of iddah in case the couple have sexual intercourse. It means that if a woman marries a man in this way and has sex, she has to wait for a number of months before marrying again and therefore, a woman cannot marry more than 3 or 4 times in a year.

In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka, Japan. Oiran were courtesans in Japan during the Edo period. The oiran were considered a type of "woman of pleasure" or prostitute. Among the oiran, the was considered the highest rank of courtesan available only to the wealthiest and highest ranking men. To entertain their clients, oiran practiced the arts of dance, music, poetry, and calligraphy as well as sexual services, and an educated wit was considered essential for sophisticated conversation. Many became celebrities of their times outside the pleasure districts. Their art and fashions often set trends among wealthy women. The last recorded oiran was in 1761. Although illegal in modern Japan, the definition of prostitution does not extend to a "private agreement" reached between a woman and a man in a brothel. Yoshiwara has a large number of soaplands that began when explicit prostitution in Japan became illegal, where women washed men's bodies. They were originally known as toruko-buro, meaning Turkish bath.

The Mahabharata and the Matsya Purana mention fictitious accounts of the origin of Prostitution. Although, Later Vedic texts tacitly, as well as overtly, mention Prostitutes, it is in the Buddhist literature that professional prostitutes are noticed. A tawaif was a courtesan who catered to the nobility of the Indian subcontinent, particularly during the era of the Mughal Empire. These courtesans danced, sang, recited poetry and entertained their suitors at mehfils. Like the geisha tradition in Japan, their main purpose was to professionally entertain their guests, and while sex was often incidental, it was not assured contractually. High-class or the most popular tawaifs could often pick and choose between the best of their suitors. They contributed to music, dance, theatre, film, and the Urdu

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